The subject invention relates to an insulation blanket-packaging machine and method and, in particular, to an improved, versatile, high-speed insulation blanket-packaging machine and method especially well suited for economically, efficiently, and rapidly packaging insulation blanket in unfolded batt form, single-fold batt form, spiral wound batt roll form, or continuous length spiral wound form.
Faced and unfaced fiberglass insulation blankets are currently produced and packaged in unfolded batt form, single-fold batt form and spiral wound batt or continuous length roll form on high capacity production lines. Typically, these high capacity production lines each include a high capacity fiberglass insulation blanket manufacturing operation that produces the fiberglass insulation blankets, ready for packaging, as batts in unfolded, single-fold or spiral wound form or as continuous lengths in spiral wound form and a packaging operation for packaging the insulation blankets. The packaging operation normally uses one type of packaging machine for packaging the insulation blankets in their unfolded or single-fold batt form and another type of packaging machine for packaging the insulation blankets in their spiral wound form. To maintain or increase the overall throughput of these high capacity fiberglass insulation blanket production lines, the packaging operations of these production lines must be able to effectively accommodate and package the large amounts of insulation blanket produced, in unfolded batt form, single-fold batt form, and/or roll form, in the fiberglass insulation blanket manufacturing operations. If the packaging operations are unable to accommodate and effectively package the fiberglass insulation blanket in the forms produced for packaging in the manufacturing operations, the packaging operations become bottlenecks that limit the overall production capacity of the fiberglass insulation blanket production lines. Thus, there is a need for packaging operations in these fiberglass insulation blanket production lines that have capacities that at least equal and, preferably, exceed the production capacities of the fiberglass insulation blanket manufacturing operations.
In batt form, fiberglass insulation blankets are currently sold in packages that contain between two and twelve compressed batts per package. For sales to builders and commercial insulation contractors, the fiberglass insulation blankets are commonly sold in a package containing between four and thirty compressed batts. The shorter length batts (e.g. batts about four feet in length) are typically packaged in an unfolded condition. The longer batts (e.g. batts about eight feet in length) are typically folded in half so that the length of the package containing the batts approximates one-half of the length of the batts within the package (e.g. about four feet). For retail sales to do-it-yourselfers and the like, the fiberglass insulation blankets are commonly sold in a package containing several compressed batts that are wound in a spiral form or a compressed continuous length of insulation blanket that is wound in spiral form (e.g. an insulation blanket about thirty feet in length). As stated above, typically, a first type of packaging machine is used in the packaging operation to package the unfolded or single-fold batts of insulation blanket while a second type of packaging machine is used in the packaging operation to package spiral wound rolls of insulation blanket. The use of two different packaging machines in the packaging operation: may require the use of package forming sheet materials that differ from each other in size or other respects, reduces the efficiency of the packaging operation, increases the number of operators required for and the costs of the packaging operation, and increases the floor space required for the packaging operation. The amount of floor space required for a packaging operation to accommodate the production capacity of a fiberglass insulation blanket manufacturing operation can become quite a problem, especially when the capacity of a fiberglass insulation blanket manufacturing operation is increased and there is only limited floor space available for the packaging operation in an existing production facility.
In addition to the above, the fiberglass insulation blanket in the packages containing the fiberglass insulation blanket in spiral wound roll form can not be compressed to the degree that the fiberglass insulation blanket can be compressed in the packages containing the fiberglass insulation blanket in unfolded batt or single-fold batt form without damaging the insulation blanket and reducing the ability of the insulation blanket to recover in thickness after the insulation blanket is removed from the packages for installation. Thus, insulation blanket in roll form is typically not compressed to the degree that unfolded or single-fold batts are compressed and for packages containing the same cubic footage of insulation, the packages containing fiberglass insulation in roll form rather than unfolded or single-fold batt form take up additional warehouse space, transportation space, and shelf space at retail outlets to thereby increase the costs and handling problems involved in storing, transporting and selling the product.
Thus, there has remained a need for an insulation blanket-packaging machine for use in these fiberglass insulation blanket production lines and other insulation blanket production lines: that can easily accommodate the production capacities of these production lines and future increases in the production capacities of these production lines; that has the versatility to package selected numbers of fiberglass insulation batts in a flat unfolded or single-fold form (e.g. between two and thirty batts) to achieve the maximum practical compression of the fiberglass insulation batts while maintaining the required thickness recovery characteristics for the batts; that forms packages sized to minimize the storage, transportation and retail space required for the packages; that forms packages that are easy to handle; that makes effective use of available floor space in the production facility; and that reduces the number of operators required for the packaging operation and is otherwise cost effective and efficient. The need has also remained for such an insulation blanket-packaging machine that is versatile so that the machine can also be used to package insulation blanket that is wound in spiral roll form where marketing or other configurations dictate the use of such packages even though such packages typically occupy more space for equal amounts in cubic footage of insulation.